Sarbanes says the goal is to have a bill, which has many details yet to be hammered out, ready to be voted on by January 3 the first day of the new session. There are three main planks the bill covers: campaign finance reform, strengthening the governments ethics laws, and expanding voting rights.
Campaign finance Public financing of campaigns, powered by small donations. Under Sarbaness vision, the federal government would provide a voluntary 6-1 match for candidates for president and Congress, which means for every dollar a candidate raises from small donations, the federal government would match it six times over. If you give $100 to a candidate thats meeting those requirements, then that candidate would get another $600 coming in behind them, Sarbanes told Vox this summer. The evidence and the modeling is that most candidates can do as well or better in terms of the dollars they raise if they step into this new system. Passing the DISCLOSE Act, pushed by Rep. David Cicilline (RI) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), both Democrats from Rhode Island. This would require Super PACs and dark money political organizations to make their donors public. Passing the Honest Ads Act, championed by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (MN) and Mark Warner (VA), which would require Facebook and Twitter to disclose the source of money of political ads on their platforms, and share how much money was spent.
Ethics Requiring the president to disclose his or her tax returns. Stopping members of Congress from using taxpayer money to settle sexual harassment cases or buy first-class plane tickets. Giving the Office of Government Ethics the power to do more oversight and enforcement and put in stricter lobbying registration requirements. Create a new ethical code for the US Supreme Court, ensuring all branches of government are impacted by the new law.
Voting rights Creating new national automatic voter registration that asks voters to opt out, rather than opt in, ensuring more people will be signed up to vote. Early voting and online voter registration would also be promoted. Restoring the Voting Rights Act, part of which was dismantled by a US Supreme Court decision in 2013. Ending partisan gerrymandering in federal elections and prohibiting voter roll purging. Beefing up elections security, including requiring the Director of National Intelligence to do regular checks on foreign threats.
Great bill, but like Vox said, it's very likely to never pass the Senate or Oval Office due to opposing motives.